Computer controlled event ticket auctioning system

ABSTRACT

An automated event ticket auctioning system receives and evaluates bid information records received from a plurality of remote terminals. The bid information records correspond to bids for one or more seats within a venue and corresponding to at least one particular event, wherein the venue has a plurality of sections, each section having a plurality of seats. The automated event ticket auctioning system includes a memory storing a plurality of previously accepted bid information records, the previously accepted bid information records each including identification information, section identification, quantity information and bid price information. The system further includes a central controlling computer operably connected to the memory. The central controlling computer is operable to first receive a message including a received bid information record from one of a plurality of remote terminals through a communication system. The received bid information record includes received identification information, received section identification, received quantity information, and received bid price information. The central controlling computer is further operable to determine a lowest minimum acceptable bid value corresponding to the received section information using the previously accepted bid information records stored in the memory, and store the received bid information record if a value represented by the received bid price information exceeds the lowest minimum acceptable bid value. The automated event ticket auctioning system further includes a programmed graphical representation method designed to efficiently convey to auction participants useful standing bid information across the entire event venue, allowing seat bid price locations to be quantified in an effective manner. The system further includes programmed methods for ensuring contiguous grouping of seat location within each multiple ticket bid, and for ensuring that the standing bid information is automatically updated on a real-time basis and presented as such to all auction participants.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of provisional application Ser. No. 60/018,211filed May 23, 1996.

This application incorporates a microfiche appendix consisting of 11microfiche and 380 frames.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a system that uses communication linesconnecting participants from various locations, such as personalcomputers connected via the internet, to a central computer whichconducts a real-time auction of tickets to sporting and entertainmentevents.

2. Background of the Invention

The established method of selling tickets to sporting and entertainmentevents involves pre-setting inflexible prices then releasing the ticketsfor sale at a box office or by phone. This method has a number ofshortcomings. Typically, each sale involves employees takingtime-consuming individual orders and trying to describe the prices andseat locations to customers. Another shortcoming with this method isthat especially for premium events, it can be highly inconvenient andsometimes impossible for the purchaser to access the sale due to demand.Moreover, for practical reasons, prices are assigned to tickets in largeblocks, while, in reality, purchasers often consider tickets within ablock to have a wide ranging continuum of values; and these marketvalues can be very hard to estimate before the tickets are sold. Largelybecause of these shortcomings, many premium tickets are sold forsubstantially less than their market value. Generally, theseshortcomings exist even with new automated methods involving phone orinternet sales since the number of tickets is limited and the sellingsystem is still fundamentally the same; with "first-come-first-served"orders taken for pre-priced tickets.

Although it is widely known that the market values some tickets at asubstantial premium over face value, there has been no system availablefor accurately establishing and selling these tickets at their marketvalue. Logistically, auctioning the tickets has not been feasible due tothe large quantity of unique seats and even larger quantity of buyerswishing to purchase them.

A few auction systems have been developed that operate using theinternet as the communications mode. These systems have been used toauction items such as computer equipment, artwork, and special items forcharity. However, these systems are not suitable for use in connectionwith a real-time mass auction of event tickets. With the currentlyoperating systems, generally the items being sold are of a smallquantity or individually unique. In most of the currently operatingsystems, the items for sale are individually listed, and individuallybid upon using e-mail over a period of days or weeks. While, thecurrently operating systems are useful for such limited purposes, theyhave several shortcomings.

One such shortcoming arises from the use of e-mail to place bids and toupdate participants of their bid status. While in theory e-mail isinstantaneous, there are occasional routing delays of which the senderis often not immediately aware. In an auction of a slow, deliberatenature such as those presently operating, this is not a great concern.However, in a fast pace auction with numerous participants some bidscould be lost as delayed e-mail, unbeknownst to the participant.

An additional problem with the e-mail approach is that time may elapsebefore the bid information is read and applied. Therefore, theparticipant may not get instantaneous feedback on other bids which maybe taking place simultaneously. The participant often must wait for someperiod of time to learn if the bid is successful. If the participant hasa strategy for bidding on a very desirable item, the participant mustreturn to the auction numerous times to follow its progression.

Most currently operating systems provide some general bid status data,usually a minimal amount of information such as "current" high bid. This"current" high bid is updated by periodically reviewing the bidsreceived, and entering the highest bid to date. Therefore, these"current" bids are not current up to the second. Moreover, if there aremany of a particular item, especially such as event tickets having acontinuum of values, participants need to know considerably more thanthe high bid information in order to make an informed bidding decision.

Currently operating systems do not provide bid status informationupdates independent of solicitation of the information fromparticipants. Once the internet auction site is accessed, theinformation conveyed may become outdated as it is being viewed. Againthis would be quite unfavorable for fast-paced auctions. Therefore, evenwith auction sites which were actually being updated real-time, aparticipant would need to continually re-access the site in order tokeep information truly updated.

One internet auction system, "onsale" at http://www.onsale.com/ attemptsto overcome the e-mail auction problems by automatically updating itsinternet site. However, like the other internet auction sites, onsaleconducts relatively slow, deliberate sales, and still relies on e-mailto transmit some of the bid information. In addition, although theonsale auction site is automatically updated, it does not automaticallypresent this information to participants. As explained above,participants need to continually re-access the site in order to keepinformation truly updated.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,928 details an auction system for used cars that iscapable of interactive, essentially real-time auctioning. Instead ofinternet based, this used car auctioning system is constructed with a4-level hierarchy of computers networked to a plurality of auto dealersterminals. At each level, the bids received by the computer areprocessed and only select bids are transmitted to the next level. Thebids are raised in increments of 3000 yen and the participants may bidvia a single signal indicating a "yes" in response to the bid beingraised. This system is based on the traditional auction format, and isused to sell one item or lot at a time. When a car has been auctioned, adisc is loaded by each dealer into his terminal which shows thephotograph of the next car to be auctioned. Bidding is limited to apredetermined group of auto dealers. Because the structure of thissystem is hierarchical, i.e. not on the internet, it is not practicalfor use in wide-spread auctions available to consumers. Because of themethodical nature of this system, selling a progression of single itemswith incremented bids, it is geared for low volume sales of items withrelatively high values.

Recently tickets have been made available for purchase on the internet,for example at http.www.ticketmaster.com/ but not in an auction format,as is needed to sell certain tickets at their market prices. At thisinternet site, sales are of the traditional pre-set pricing,"first-come-first-served" format.

Considering the selling of a large number of tickets to an event, thereare unique circumstances which present challenges not manifested inselling other items. For example, in a particular auction, all thetickets may be for the same venue, date, time, and performance. However,each of these tickets also possesses the very unique characteristic ofseat location. This characteristic can dramatically effect the ticketvalue. Ticket values typically vary widely, yet in a continuum fromclosest to farthest from the performance area. Thus, it is not practicalto mass the tickets into simple generic blocks to be auctioned. Nor isit practical to list and auction each ticket individually, since thiscould present auction participants with a prohibitively large number ofindividual auctions, and no practical way to obtain contiguous seats.Accordingly, there exists a need for a system which can, within asingle, clear format, auction a large number of items with a continuumof values, each at its market price. Furthermore, this system needs toapply logic in sorting bids based not only on price, but on clusteringrequirements to ensure that within a multiple-ticket bid, the seats areadjoining. This would require a database configuration unlike thatemployed by the prior art.

Moreover, given the furious pace of sales for many premium tickets,there exists the unique and as yet, unmet challenge of providinginstant, automatic, comprehensive feedback for status of a relativelycomplex arrangement of standing bids. Frequently the more popularsporting and entertainment events sell all available tickets in a matterof a few minutes. The number of tickets to these events may reach intothe hundreds of thousands. A practicable auction of tickets for such anevent would require a system uniquely designed to process this largevolume while presenting an updated, clear and informative view of theproceedings to all participants. It would be logical to presume thatefficient conveyance of bid information for a large, complex pattern ofbids would require a graphical representation of the bid standings.Although some internet auctions employ graphical representation ofobjects for sale, none employ graphical representation of bid status.

In spite of their shortcomings, the above mentioned prior art systemsare useful for their respective intended purposes. However, given theirlimitations, and the above noted unique circumstances for mass ticketsales, it is simply not practical or feasible to apply any of the priorart to the particular task of auctioning a large volume of eventtickets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a computercontrolled auctioning system, in which an unlimited number ofparticipants may have simultaneous access to the desired event tickets.The above stated needs as well as others are fulfilled by the presentinvention through a system constructed to sell a large number of ticketsin a very short time, each said ticket or group of tickets being soldfor a value set by existing market forces. The system providesparticipants with simple, yet informative graphical standing bidinformation on the entire stock of tickets available, and allows themreal-time bidding interaction. This system can achieve such sales evenfor events of extremely high public interest, without excluding anypotential purchasers.

The present invention achieves said objectives by employing a computercontrolled event ticket auctioning system which receives and evaluatesbid information records received from a plurality of remote terminals,said bid information records corresponding to bids for one or more seatswithin a venue and corresponding to at least one particular event, saidvenue having a plurality of sections, each section having a plurality ofseats.

The automated event ticket auctioning system is comprised of a memorystoring a plurality of previously accepted bid information records, saidrecords each including identification information, sectionidentification, quantity information, and bid price information. Theautomated event ticket auctioning system is further comprised of acentral controlling computer operably connected to the memory andoperable to receive a message including a received bid informationrecord from one of a plurality of remote terminals through acommunication system, determine a lowest minimum acceptable bid valuecorresponding to the received section information using the previouslyaccepted bid information records stored in the memory, and store thereceived bid information record if a value represented by the receivedbid price information exceeds the lowest minimum acceptable bid value.

The central controlling computer is further operable to, in a likemanor, receive, evaluate and store if acceptable, subsequent bidsreceived and to stop receiving subsequent messages after a predeterminedtime period.

Within the automated event ticket auctioning system, each previouslyaccepted bid information record includes rank information based on thesection information and the bid price information, and the centralcontrolling computer is further operable to assign a rank to eachreceived bid information record based on its section identification, itsbid price information, and the previously accepted bid informationrecords.

After stopping receiving subsequent messages, the central controllingcomputer is further operable to associate one or more particular seatsof the venue with a previously accepted bid information record based onthe rank information and the section information of each of a pluralityof previously accepted bid information records.

The automated event ticket auctioning system further includes aprogrammed graphical representation method designed to efficientlyconvey to auction participants useful standing bid information acrossthe entire event venue, allowing seat bid price locations to bequantified in an effective manner.

The system further includes programmed methods for ensuring contiguousgrouping of seat location within each multiple ticket bid, and forensuring that the standing bid information is automatically updated on areal-time basis and presented as such to all auction participants; saidprogrammed method employing HTML programming features such as therecently available META refresh (a client pull type browser directive)or the multipart/mixed MIME format (a server push type browserdirective).

Participants may access this system from remote sites using terminalssuch as personal computers, via telephone lines or other means ofcommunication. The status of bids and seat locations are conveyed ongraphic displays of the venue seating arrangement which are updated on areal-time basis for all participants to view. Participants may placebids of any amount, subject to pre-determined limits, and cancel, raise,or lower bids at will. In addition, participants may view their personalbid standings and the updated overall bid standings without having tocontinually re-access the auction site. Through the participants' remoteterminals, the personal bid requests are sent to the host computer whichimmediately processes, and sorts the bids according to section andprice. The central computer immediately updates and displays the new bidstanding order. When the auction is closed, the bids become fixed andthe physical transaction can occur.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAMS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system built in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary system built inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary participant registrationprocedure used in a system built in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary auction procedure usedin a system built in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 5a and 5b is an exemplary representation of the main auctiondatabase storing the order of bids received.

FIGS. 6a and 6b is an exemplary representation of a referring databasewhich stores the seating arrangements and available tickets for sale.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary representation of a referring database whichstores the participants identity and personal and payment information.

FIG. 8 is an example of the statistical record of all bid eventsreceived: for use in marketing studies and customer service.

FIG. 9 is an example of the participant's terminal screen, as it mightappear before the beginning of an auction. The terminal displays agraphical representation of the venue of seats to be auctioned and thepre-set minimum bid price of those seats.

FIG. 10 is an example of the participant's terminal screen, as it mightappear during an auction. The terminal displays a graphicalrepresentation of the venue of seats to be auctioned, the present bidprice of those seats, and the personal bid standing for this particularparticipant.

FIG. 11 is an example of the participant's terminal screen when thedesired section is chosen for bidding. The bid form is included on thisscreen.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary algorithm used toensure contiguous seats within each bid in a system built in accordancewith the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary algorithm used to matchthe number of available seats with the number of seats requested bywinning bidders in a system built in accordance with the presentinvention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIG. 1 shows a computer controlled auctioning system 10 which is builtaccording to the present invention. As, shown, the computer controlledauctioning system 10 is comprised of a central computer 12 such as aninternet server which sends and receives information through acommunication system 13 such as the public telephone system, televisioncable system, or satellite communications system to remote terminals14₁, 14₂, 14₃ . . . 14_(n), such as personal computers or other networkaccessing devices. In this embodiment, internet sites are constructedconsisting of web pages of graphics and text stored as html files, whichpresent the necessary information pertaining to upcoming events andticket sales. These sites are stored in the memory of the centralcomputer 12. The construction and initiation of these sites is shown asstep 22 and step 23 in FIG. 2, which is a flowchart illustrating thegeneral operation of this exemplary system.

Accordingly, consumers wishing to become participants in an upcomingauction may access the central computer 12 of FIG. 1 through any remoteterminal 14₁, 14₂, 14₃ . . . 14_(n) to receive a wide variety ofinformation about the auctions, the related events, venues, performersor teams, schedules, and merchandise; and to pre-register for theauction and payment. The registration process is represented as step 24in FIG. 2. Next, as FIG. 2 illustrates, the auction operation 25 isexecuted; the transactions 26 take place, and the system is ended 27.These steps are described in more detail below.

Referring again to FIG. 1, registration and bid information originatingin the remote terminals 14₁, 14₂, 14₃ . . . 14_(n) is transferred viathe communication system 13 and received by the central computer 12. Thecentral computer 12 processes said information and stores it indatabases: specifically, the participant database 15 for registrationsand the main auction database 16 for bids. The central computer 12 alsoperforms sorting and indexing operations, described below, necessary tokeep the information in the databases current and correctly ordered. Thecentral computer 12 processes and controls the information flowingbetween the internet sites and the databases with programming written inC++ language. Registration information may be received and stored beforeand during operation of the auction. The participant database,represented by FIG. 7 contains the name, address, and paymentinformation for all participants, and is used as a referring database tothe main auction database, represented by FIG. 5, during the openauction and for billing purposes when the auction is concluded. FIG. 5and FIG. 7 are detailed below.

Referring again to FIG. 1, a master computer 11 is connected to thecentral computer 12 for purposes of setting up, initiating, monitoringand dismantling the auction, and its related sites or pages. Forexample, in preparation for an auction, numerous details specific tothat auction, such as minimum initial bids, event and sponsor names,dates and times, and seating arrangements are generated using the mastercomputer 11 and then transferred by disk or modem or other means to thecentral computer 12 when needed. The central computer 12 stores theseparameters for later application to the auction process. In particular,the central computer 12 stores in the seating database 17, the specificseating arrangement as a unique record for each seat available. Theauction is then conducted by the central computer 12, as describedbelow. During the auction, the master computer 11 can be used to monitorthe auction progress, make any necessary spontaneous changes to existingparameters, and to generally ensure that the auction is conducted with aminimum of problems. In practice, it may be possible to combine thefunctions of the central computer 12 and the Master computer 11.

Step 24 in FIG. 2 is illustrated in detail by FIG. 3, an exemplaryparticipant registration flowchart. The potential registrant begins instep 28 by interfacing with one of the terminals, for example, terminal14₁, of FIG. 1. When the rules and registration internet site isaccessed at step 29 of FIG. 3, the registrant is encouraged to read theauction rules thoroughly, and agree to their terms. This site includes aregistration form which will contain that registrant's personalinformation including records for the fields illustrated in theparticipant database of FIG. 7, as well as a checkbox for agreement tothe terms of the auction rules, and a password, if desired to protectaccess. The password may be chosen for use when accessing the auction,in lieu of re-entering the credit card number. This allows theparticipant to have an agent place bids, without disclosing the creditcard number.

The central computer 12 of FIG. 1 performs all remaining steps in thisregistration process depicted in FIG. 3. In step 30, of FIG. 3, theregistration information is received and in step 31, a determination ismade as to whether the information is satisfactorily complete. If not, amessage to that effect is sent in step 32 back to the registrant, andthe registration process is ended at step 39. If the registrationinformation is satisfactorily complete, then in step 33, the creditinformation is obtained through existing credit card systems forcomparison to the information given by the registrant. In step 34, saidcomparison is performed and if the credit information does not match orthe limit is exceeded, a message to that effect is sent in step 35 backto the registrant, and the registration process is ended at step 39. Ifin step 34 the card is determined to be valid and the limit not to beexceeded, then in step 36, an `authorization only` hold is placed on theregistrant's credit card, for an amount specified by the participant.This limit, also stored in the participant database of FIG. 7, will bethat registrant/participant's maximum allowable bid during the upcomingopen auction. The authorization hold verifies and reserves the paymentmeans for the seller, while limiting unauthorized bids made by agents ofthe registrant/participant. Referring again to FIG. 3, in step 37, theregistrant is notified that the registration was accepted and then instep 38, the records are sent to the participant database before theregistration is ended in step 39.

At step 22 of FIG. 2 before the auction is opened, an internet site isconstructed and initiated to provide viewing of graphical displays ofthe seating and sale information to the participants. FIG. 9 representsone such view, with initial minimum bids displayed in each section. Allpotential participants may access and view this site before the auctionis opened. When the auction is opened, the central computer 12 of FIG. 1activates the site to become interactive, so participants can use it toplace bids. The site activation is represented as step 40 in FIG. 4which is discussed below. When a participant places a bid, theinformation is received and then processed by the central computer 12 ofFIG. 1 according to the flowchart outlined in FIG. 4.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary auction procedure whichis step 25 in FIG. 2. The central computer 12 of FIG. 1 performs allsteps in this auction process depicted in FIG. 4. In addition, all bidinformation received by participants' remote terminals is generated bythe central computer 12 of FIG. 1 as web-pages constructed of htmlprogramming code. In step 41 of FIG. 4, a bid information record (bid)is received as a response to a web-page form: an html programming toolcommonly used to submit information from a personal computer to aserver. A bid information record includes received identificationinformation, received section identification, received quantityinformation, and received bid price information. When a bid is received,as in step 41, then in step 42 a check is made to ensure participant'sregistration is on record. This is accomplished by conducting a query onthe participant database 15 of FIG. 1, detailed in FIG. 7, using thereceived bid identification information as the query criterion. If thequery finds the participant is not registered, a message to that effectis sent in step 43 back to the participant, and the bid is not recorded.

If the query finds the participant is registered, then in step 44 ofFIG. 4, a check is made to ensure the participant's bid exceeds thestanding minimum bid for the particular section requested. This isaccomplished by conducting a query on the main auction database 16 ofFIG. 1, detailed in FIG. 5, using the received section identificationand bid price information as the query criteria. If the query finds thebid price too low, a message to that effect is sent in step 45 back tothe participant, and the bid is not recorded. If the query finds the bidprice is not too low, then in step 46, a check is made to ensure theparticipant's bid is less than the established maximum; specifically,the amount of the authorization only hold established in the participantregistration and stored, for example, under the field name "SLIMIT" inthe participant database of FIG. 7. Again, this is accomplished byconducting a query on the participant database using the received bidprice information as the query criterion. If this maximum is exceeded, amessage to that effect is sent in step 47 of FIG. 4 back to theparticipant, and the bid is not recorded. Upon receipt of such amessage, the participant may chose to re-register in order to raise theset maximum. However, an agent of the participant would be unable to doso without the credit card information. Thus, protection is afforded byuse of the password established in the participant registration andstored, for example under the field name "SETPASS" shown in theparticipant database of FIG. 7.

Referring again to FIG. 4, if the comparison in step 46 is positive,then the bid is accepted and displayed as in step 48. In step 49, thebid information record is recorded to the main auction database of FIG.5 and indexed to the corresponding participant in the participantdatabase of FIG. 7. In step 50 of FIG. 4, again using the received bidprice information as the query criterion, the bid is then inserted atthe appropriate rank in the seating database of FIG. 6, described below,and indexed to the corresponding bid record in the main auction databaseof FIG. 5, with lower standing bids being reordered to reflect the newstandings. At this step, the lowest bid(s) are removed from the order,(bumped), unless additional seats are still available. Bumped bids arestored in a market research database, represented in FIG. 8, the formatof which is similar to that of the main auction database. An addedfunction of this database is to ensure that an accurate record of eachbid event can be identified for customer service purposes. Next,participants whose bids become too low are notified.

As shown in step 51 and step 52, if the standing bid price of apre-selected key seat in the graphical representation has changed as aresult of the latest bid, this change is reflected immediately byautomatically updating the display of the current bid standings. Theseprices are displayed within the graphical view of the seating and saleinformation, just as the initial minimum bids were displayed in FIG. 9.A representation of this real-time bid status view is shown in FIG. 10.This interactive view gives participants clear, useful informationsufficient to make bid decisions, regardless of the number of ticketsfor sale or what location is desired. More precise information isreadily obtainable by simply clicking the mouse on the desired section.This action summons the bid form along with a more precise bid statusgraphic such as shown in FIG. 11. The standing prices represented onthese interactive sites are obtained by the central computer 12 of FIG.1 from records stored in the seating database 17 and inserted into thehtml file for display to participants. This task is step 52 of FIG. 4and is repeated each time a change has occurred in the standing bidprice of one of these key seats. This determination is represented asstep 51 of FIG. 4. These changes are automatically presented to theparticipants by means of META refresh, a client pull type htmlprogramming feature which directs the browser to automatically refreshthe information every x seconds, where x is a variable programmed intothe html file code. If no key seat prices have changed, no furtheraction is taken until the next bid is received or the auction is ended.In step 53, the auction may be ended in response to a signal which maybe sent from the master computer 11 of FIG. 1 or from an internal timeror some other predetermined means.

In step 54, of FIG. 4, finalizing the seat assignments involvesapplication of an algorithm designed to ensure that seats within a bidare contiguous. FIG. 12 is and example of such an algorithm. For eachsection of seats in the venue this algorithm is executed, starting withthe highest bid, obtained in step 121, and working back. If the bidpresently under evaluation is the last in its section., then a differentalgorithm is used. This determination and action is step 122 and step123. If the bid presently under evaluation is not the last in itssection, then in step 124, it is determined if the number of seatsrequired by the bid is more than the number existing in its row. If so,it is impossible for all the seats to be contiguous, and the processbegins for the next bid, in step 128. If not, in step 125 the nextdecision is to see if there are any breaks in the seat grouping. If not,the process again begins for the next bid, in step 128. If so, the groupof seats is moved to the next row back, step 126, and the resulting seatvacancies are filled by moving the next lower bid(s) forward, step 127.In unusual circumstances, this could result in the moved group spanningtwo rows again. In this exemplary algorithm, the group will not be movedagain, it will remain split. When the last active bid is processed, thelast-seat algorithm shown in FIG. 13 is applied. If the number of seatsin the bid is greater than the number of seats remaining in the section,step 131, then in step 132 the bidder is notified of the cut-off andasked it the reduced number of seats will suffice. In step 133 and step134 if the reply is negative or if there is no reply within 2 minutes,the bid is removed. If there is a positive reply, the number of ticketsis reduced to the available amount, and the algorithm is ended.

Referring again to FIG. 2, step 26, upon auction closing, successfulbidders are immediately notified at their terminals and payment isconfirmed. The credit cards are debited for the appropriate amounts, andthe excess amount from the `authorization only` hold is released. Thetickets are then delivered by any of a number of conventional means.

FIG. 5a and FIG. 5b represent the main Auction database which stores andranks all active bid records and pairs the associated participants andseats accordingly, by referencing the two referring databases. FIG. 5ais the design view of this database, defining the fields and theirparameters, while FIG. 5b is the table view showing sample bid recordsfor the first bids in a hypothetical auction. FIG. 6 depicts the seatingdatabase, which is the other referring database containing a record ofeach seat in the venue arranged in order of preference as predeterminedby the promoter or ticket seller. This would probably be based oncriteria such as distance from center stage, center court, or the finishline. In the case of a festival seating events, accessing the seatingdatabase would not be necessary.

The databases shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 contain records for ahypothetical auction that is greatly simplified for illustrationpurposes. This hypothetical event venue contains only 12 availableseats, each defined by a record in the seating database (FIG. 6b). Asshown, minimum bids had been pre-set at $15 and the highest bid receivedwas bid #1 of $30, with a quantity of 2 seats. The first field in theseating database, "SEATID" contains the Unique seat identificationnumber which is indexed to the main auction database (FIG. 5b) by thefields "FSEATID" (first seat identification number) and "LSEATID" (lastseat identification number). The last field is "BIDDERID", in which arestored indices referencing records in the participant database. As shownin FIG. 5b, the lowest bid was #3, requesting 2 seats at $15. However,only one seat was reserved, since only one was available at that bidlevel. As detailed in FIG. 13 above, when the auction is ended, if oneticket is not satisfactory, this participant will be given theopportunity to cancel the bid.

FIG. 10 is a sample participant interface to the auction system duringthe open auction, represented here as a web page with graphical links toforms for placing bids. As exemplified here, the participant wishing tobid, simply uses a mouse to click on the desired section, calling up abid form and a more precise view of standing bids to use as a guideline.FIG. 11 shows this more precise view for a participant who clicked onsection C. The form on the right confirms this selection and prompts theparticipant for the specific bid information; while the diagram on theleft shows that if, for instance, the bid placed is $73, then the seatswill be in the middle of section C, unless future (higher) bids push itback. Likewise, in practice it is possible, albeit tedious, to displaybid prices in every row or even for every seat.

Accordingly, a ticket seller could promote numerous entertainment eventssimultaneously at one network site, with the added step for theregistrant/participant of choosing the desired event from thosepresented.

In one embodiment, a template may be loaded into participants' terminalsprior to their accessing the auction site, said template providing textor graphic information that does not change during an auction or betweenauctions, such as background art, forms or instructions. Said templatemay be downloaded from the internet, or installed from a disc or by someother means. Use of a template allows the bid status updates to be madewith transmission of only the numerical data, which in combination withthe template, presents the comprehensive auction status update toparticipants. In another embodiment, the bid status changes areautomatically presented to the participants by means of themultipart/mixed MIME format, a recently available server-push typeprogramming feature which takes advantage of a connection that is heldopen over multiple responses, allowing the server to send more data atwill. This method can be more efficient, since new HTTP connections donot have to be reopened.

It is to be understood that the above-described embodiments of theinvention are merely illustrative. Other implementations may readily bedevised by those of ordinary skill in the art which will embody theprinciples of the invention and fall within the spirit and scopethereof. In particular, the exemplary contiguous seat algorithm of FIG.12 may readily be modified to allow repeated movements of a group toensure adjacent seating or to allow block-style groupings, or othervariations. Moreover, this ensuring of contiguous seats shown at step 54of FIG. 4, could be performed as each bid is placed, rather than only atthe close of the auction. Likewise, the last seat cut-off in step 55 ofFIG. 4 could be executed with each bid made. Additionally, the auctionsystem may readily be modified to sell each section of the venue insuccession or at different internet locations.

We claim:
 1. An automated event ticket auctioning system, the automatedevent ticket auctioning system receiving and evaluating bid informationrecords received from a plurality of remote terminals, said bidinformation records corresponding to bids for one or more seats within avenue and corresponding to at least one particular event, said venuehaving a plurality of sections, each section having a plurality ofseats, the automated event ticket auctioning system comprising:a) amemory storing a plurality of previously accepted bid informationrecords, said previously accepted bid information records each includingidentification information, section identification, quantityinformation, and bid price information, said memory also storing aseating database having a predetermined preferential rank for each seatin each section; b) a central controlling computer operably connected tothe memory and operable to receive a message including a received bidinformation record from one of the plurality of remote terminals througha communication system, said received bid information record includingreceived identification information, received section identification,received quantity information, and received bid price information,determine a lowest minimum acceptable bid value corresponding to thereceived section information using the previously accepted bidinformation records stored in the memory, store the received bidinformation record if a value represented by the received bid priceinformation exceeds the lowest minimum acceptable bid value, associateone or more particular seats having a predetermined preferential rankwith the stored received bid information record based on the sectionidentification and bid price information, and determine a ticket pricefor each of the one or more particular seats associated with a storedreceived bid information record based on the bid price information inthe stored received bid information record associated with the seat. 2.The automated event ticket auctioning system of claim 1 wherein thecentral controlling computer is further operable to:receive subsequentmessages, each message including a subsequent received bid informationrecord from one of a plurality of remote terminals through acommunication system, each of said received bid information recordsincluding received identification information, received sectionidentification, received quantity information, and received bid priceinformation; for each subsequent message, determine a lowest minimumacceptable bid value corresponding to the received section informationcorresponding to the subsequent message using the previously acceptedbid information records stored in the memory; and for each subsequentmessage, store the received bid information record if a valuerepresented by the received bid price information exceeds the lowestminimum acceptable bid value; and for each subsequent message, associateone or more particular seats having a predetermined preferential rankwith the stored bid information record based on the sectionidentification and bid price information; and determine a ticket pricefor each of the one or more particular seats associated with a storedreceived bid information record based on the bid price information inthe stored received bid information record associated with the seat; andstop receiving subsequent messages after a predetermined time period. 3.The automated event ticket auctioning system of claim 2 wherein thecentral controlling computer is further operable to generate and send toeach of a plurality of remote terminals through a communication system,a programmed graphical representation of the event venue seatingarrangement, designed to convey to auction participants useful standingbid information across the entire event venue, allowing seat bid pricelocations to be quantified in an effective manner, by the visiblelocation of the seat bid prices within the graphical representation ofthe event venue seating arrangement.
 4. The automated event ticketauctioning system of claim 3 wherein the central controlling computer isfurther operable to execute a programmed method for ensuring contiguousgrouping of seat locations within each multiple-ticket bid.
 5. Theautomated event ticket auctioning system of claim 4 wherein the centralcontrolling computer is further operable to execute a programmed methodfor ensuring that the standing bid price information is automaticallyupdated on a real-time basis and presented as such to all auctionparticipants; said programmed method employing programming features suchas html META refresh (a client pull type browser directive) ormultipart/mixed MIME format (a server push type browser directive). 6.The automated event ticket auctioning system of claim 1 wherein thecentral controlling computer is further operable to display a notice atthe one of the plurality of remote terminals that at least one tickethas been awarded for the received bid information record submitted fromthe one of the plurality of remote terminals.
 7. A method of conductingan automated ticket auction by receiving bids from auction participantslocated at a plurality of remote terminals, the automated ticket auctionfor a plurality of seats within a venue and corresponding to at leastone particular event, the venue having a plurality of sections and eachsection having a plurality of seats, the method comprising the stepsof:(a) providing a central computer including a seating database havinga predetermined preferential rank for each seat in each section; (b)receiving bid records at the central computer from the plurality ofremote terminals through a communication system, the bid recordsincluding information concerning bidder identification and bid amount;(c) determining a lowest acceptable bid amount and determiningacceptable bid records based on the lowest acceptable bid amount; (d)storing acceptable bid records in an auction database of the centralcomputer; (e) assigning a rank to each acceptable bid record stored inthe auction database based on the bid amount; (f) associating eachacceptable bid record stored in the central computer with at least oneseat in the venue based on the rank assigned to the bid record and thepredetermined preferential rank of the at least one seat; and (g)determining a ticket price for the at least one seat in the venue basedon the bid amount in the bid record associated with the at least oneseat in the venue.
 8. The method of claim 7 further comprising the stepsof:(h) terminating the receipt of bid records at the central computer;and (i) notifying, at the remote terminals, auction participantssubmitting acceptable bid records that they have been awarded tickets tothe event at the determined ticket price.
 9. The method of claim 8further comprising the step, between steps (f) and (g), of determiningbumped bid records based on the lowest acceptable bid amount andremoving bumped bid records from the auction database of the centralcomputer.
 10. The method of claim 8 further comprising, between steps(h) and (i), the step of executing a programmed method for ensuringcontiguous grouping of seats associated with any bid record wherein thedesired quantity information indicates a desired quantity of more thanone seat.
 11. The method of claim 7 wherein the bid records of step (b)further include desired quantity information, and wherein the number ofseats associated with each acceptable bid record in step (f) is alsobased upon the desired quantity information.
 12. The method of claim 7wherein the bid records of step (b) further include desired sectioninformation, the rank assigned in step (e) is also based upon thedesired section information, and the association in step (f) is alsobased upon the desired section information.
 13. The method of claim 7further comprising the step of identifying key seats throughout thevenue and displaying on the remote terminals a graphical representationof the venue wherein the bid amounts for bid records associated with keyseats are displayed to convey to auction participants useful bidinformation across the entire venue for the particular event.